Upon closing the Book Of Life, I felt an incredibly wave of disappointment. Having spent the first 100 pages racing through to get to the action, the next several hundred still waiting for the action, and the last 200 thinking “There is no way to satisfactorily wrap up any story line before I am out of pages.” Disappointment, compounded by more disappointment. Harkeness's first book, A Discovery of Witches was more than satisfactory reading, and as lover all things historical and smutty (What’s up, Ben Franklin?) I found Shadow of Night (book the second) to be an acceptable summer pool read. Book of Life fell short of even the low bar I had set for it. It was comparable to a mediocre drunk college hook up, where the anticipation vastly outweighs the actual experience. The anticipation is exciting and fun, as you take yet another shot with your best friend in your crappy college dorm room. Even getting to the party and “running into” that guy from down the hall you “run into” at most of these things is exciting. Pretending you’re not going to leave early, or that you won’t just abandon your friends who you went with - it’s all part of the game. This is the first 200 pages of the book. Then, just as things should be getting good - you realize that you have to walk back to someone’s dorm in the rain, for like 6 blocks, and you start to wonder if it’s really all worth it. You've come this far however, so tally ho! it is as you make your move to abandon your friends before a decent hour and the chilling race back to campus. As you get back to the dorms you really start to question everything - this is the halfway point in this book. It’s just not getting any better, and now you’re in some mildly musty smelling dorm room, with poorly disguised cinder block walls, a lava lamp, and posters of Bob Marley and Jim Belushi plastering the walls. If this were a choose your own adventure novel, you would have started over at the beginning, but you’re committed! You have to know it ends. Plus, you were so excited when you started this - there must have been a reason why - maybe you've just lost sight. As you hear the disgruntled grumbles of a displaced roommate who “just wanted to play some video games, dude” fade through the hallway you realize that actually this is not anything it was made up to be. You feel slightly dizzy, (probably should have let up on the Malibu shots) and realize this guy is a TERRIBLE kisser. You start to wonder when exactly you can gracefully extract yourself, or if it is too late to pretend you hear your mom calling you. From there you realize there will be no redemption, there is no satisfying conclusion to all of this, ANY of this. Settling into your fate, because the book isn't so terrible and you've made it this far, the last pages are dismally predictable and equally uneventful to the rest of the novel.
Boots says: I very much enjoyed chewing on the stiff corners of this hardback - the shiny cover made it infinitely more appealing. On taste alone I give this book two paws up. Overall, content could have used more cats.
Those of you who care not whether you are spoiled on content or have already read it can find a full spoiler post in the next time.
Bonus picture of Boots
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